No agency will pay for psychiatrist, court told

The ACT Magistrates Court has heard no agency is willing to pay a psychiatrist to give evidence in a fitness to plead hearing, after he prepared a report on a man facing multiple charges.

Forensic psychiatrist Dr Graham George prepared a report and gave evidence that the man Jermaine Goolagong, 19, has an IQ of between 41 and 51 and operates at the level of a nine-year-old.

Goolagong is charged with offences from burglary to car theft and dangerous driving.

His lawyers want the court to rule he is unfit to plead.

Dr George's report on the man was to be part of the fitness to plead hearing in December, but Dr George is leaving his post, and the court has been told he is asking for $1,000 an hour to give any further evidence.

The prosecution told the court it is not clear who would pay.

Magistrate Bernadette Boss has ordered a new report, but says the hearing must go ahead as scheduled in December.

Goolagong remains in custody after bail was refused on the grounds he was a danger to the community.